In Macbeth’s third soliloquy, Banquo is vital as he is both mentally strong and wise. The soliloquy takes place after Macbeth has killed Duncan and become King, and although nobody has acted on any suspicions that Macbeth committed the crime yet, his own guilt begins to manifest into paranoia. Macbeth believes that there will be an endless amount of people who will try to strip him of his position, and his anxiety begins in Banquo. In the first third of his soliloquy, Macbeth repeats the word “fear” several times; in the same way his mind is surrounded “full of scorpions,” his speech is surrounded by panic. Having fought alongside him, Macbeth fully recognises Banquo’s “dauntless temper,” so his dread can only be amplified through going against a courageous …show more content…
Yet even in this insecurity of strategical thinking, Macbeth doesn’t have another soliloquy till Act 5. This noticeably long period without Macbeth gathering and going through his thoughts makes it obvious to an audience that he has stopped planning his movements and started acting on his immediate desires. Further down his soliloquy, Macbeth mentions how the witches’ prophesy will mean that his crown is “wrench’d” from him by Banquo’s children and how knowing his reign is not lineal has “fil’d [his] mind.” Through Shakespeare’s use of aggressive verbs, the audience is capable of understanding that the damage being done from the thoughts in Macbeth’s head are becoming more physical and violent onto his own body. Furthermore, Banquo is being “hail’d”; in Macbeth’s mind, the issue becomes that he suffers torment for Banquo to be rewarded with generations of